Recent content by darkfoon

Yes, I had to get a different case for it, since the case I have would not accommodate the board in size or in cooling requirements. I went with a Lian Li PC-A71F - Newegg had a massive sale on it and I got it for almost 100$ off what I would normally pay.

Lehtv, That is a good point, and by the time I got around to purchasing the card, the 670 had been announced and was available. However, I haven't been playing games as much as I would like due to hardware restrictions. So I went with something that could run just about anything for...

Taltamir, At the time in the past I was subsisting on donated hardware from generous friends. I couldn't afford backup hardware. I developed a "backup" system where I left old versions of the data on multiple drives. Now, during the course of building this system, I bought a backup drive.

I want to thank you all for your input. I went with a case that had a really good 1-day deal: Lian Li PC-A71F. It's really quiet (the loudest fan is on the processor heatsink. I think I'll change that in the future). Much quieter than my last system. The noise characteristics are much more...

Thank you all for your input and help. I went with the ASUS P9X79 WS. I am very pleased with this decision

Thanks all! I went with a fresh install of Windows 8 RP instead. This thing is FAST.

hmm, I have heard from two owners of ASUS WS boards so it sounds like maybe their WS boards are free from the quality control problems I have heard plague their other products. It doesn't appear, however, that it will fit in the Obsidian 550D. But I like that the Supermicro board offers an...

The X9SRA appears to lack the features I wouldn't use and have the features I would use. But I can't find any reviews on it and I don't know much about Supermicro's reputation or the C602 chipset. Care to comment? Edit: I have a Supermicro box at work and while it seems fairly stable, it's...

Hello, I am building a workstation to last me for several years. As such, I am prioritizing reliability and silence when selecting components. The two choices I have narrowed myself to are the Intel DX79SI and the ASUS P9X79 WS. The Intel is less expensive and has fewer PCI-e slots, but...

Reminiscent of the "Demon Core", I inherited a (dead) computer with a P4 3.2GHz HT Prescott. The motherboard around the CPU socket was warped from heat as a result of the wrong heatsink/fan providing insufficient cooling. When a friend came along with a motherboard that supported this chip and a...

I, too, am looking at an X79 board since my system is feeling its age. (see the signature) I am not too concerned with overclocking. The big things for me are stability and quiet. I have narrowed it down to the Intel DX79SI and the ASUS P9X79 WS. I have chosen those because they don't have...

I can't think of a way to check within windows without booting linux, but I believe my NTFS was formatted with the default 4096 allocation block size. I did not specify any non-default value for it. The partitions, except for the extended one containing linux, are all 4k-aligned as well. Even...

Shmee, I am still using that system in my sig. I am upgrading it piece by piece. But maybe I'll just go ahead and upgrade the whole thing right now. :D

Thanks to you all for your help and suggestions!

For this drive, unfortunately, the manufacturer only includes Norton Ghost. I say unfortunately because the general opinion of Norton Ghost seems to be pretty low. I may use gParted or Clonezilla bootable CDs.